Degrees of diagnosis with ADHD

Picture this: You’re in a restaurant and there is a clown sitting at the table next to yours. The clown tells the waiter that he wants a steak.

When the waiter asks, “How do you want that cooked?” the clown says, “Yes.”

Clearly the clown didn’t understand the question. Or maybe the clown doesn’t understand that there are degrees to which a steak can be cooked. It can be cooked rare, well-done or anywhere in between.

Apparently there are many clowns out there who don’t realize the same thing is true of ADHD. There are degrees in which a person has ADHD. There are degrees to which the symptoms occur, there are degrees to how the symptoms affect a person, and there are degrees to how that person is being affected that particular day. ADHD is not a light switch that is either on or off, it’s more like a dimmer switch which can be sort-of on or sort-of off. Some days I feel like a bright yellow speedboat skipping across the surface of a mirrored lake, other days I feel like a giant barge completely adrift in a raging storm.

Next time someone asks me if I have ADHD I’m going to tell them, “Yes, medium rare.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Lescott

Jason is a software quality assurance engineer in Seattle. When not working, he spends much of his time consumed with a myriad of hobbies and interests. These include welding, listening to music, woodworking,...read more